Support our nurses to build a better healthcare system, say the Green Party

As 40,000 nurses and midwives take the picket line today the Green Party says that supporting our nurses is crucial to developing a decent public healthcare system.

Peter Kavanagh with striking nurses and midwives

Eamon Ryan Green Party leader said:

“We stand with the nurses in their claims. The conditions that many nurses face on a daily basis are totally unacceptable. Understaffed wards are putting patients at risk. We will not have a decent healthcare system without valuing our nurses and this means dealing with pay, conditions and staffing levels.

“The Green Party is hopeful this will be resolved through the Labour Court. The nursing profession has developed over the last few decades and we believe this needs to be recognised through pay and that this can be done in a way that is consistent with the existing agreement. There is also scope for improvements in pay and conditions through the implementation of Sláintecare and the new National Maternity Plan.

“We believe that without radical structural reform of the Health Service we will continue to see large numbers of patients on waiting lists and on trolleys. Such structural reform has the potential to improve working conditions for nurses and other allied health professionals and is a more sustainable way to improve conditions for patients. We believe the long term solution to the recruitment and retention crisis will be improved by increasing capacity in the system, removing obstacles to good practice and making the health system functional.”